Is seaweed spaghetti actually any good?
I’d never even heard of seaweed spaghetti until a couple of years ago, and first assumed it must be seaweed flavoured pasta, like that green spinach pasta I was always suspicious of as a child.
But it turns out seaweed spaghetti isn’t actually pasta at all.
It’s 100% seaweed, no added anything, yet when cooked it plumps up like wheat spaghetti and can be eaten with sauces and toppings in exactly the same way.
So why would you choose to eat seaweed spaghetti instead of the regular stuff?
Well for starters seaweed is a vegetable, and we should all be eating more vegetables. And then most people are eating too many starchy carbs for their (low) activity levels, so less wheat pasta is one way of cutting down.
It’s also naturally gluten free and extremely rich in nutrients, (hence fish love it, and in turn fish is good for us in part because of this), high fibre, low carb and low calorie, sustainable (eco friendly), and the Seamorefood packs I was sent are organic too.
So with pretty much every box ticked already, all that’s left to do is to put it to the cooking and eating tests!
I was actually sent two products: Sea Pasta, which you cook and use like pasta, and Sea Bacon which is large leaves that are fried up or eaten raw and add a salty crunch in the same way crunchy bacon lardons perk up any dish, only without all the fat and calories.
The pasta can actually be prepared in various ways from boiling to soaking in cold water, all with the same end result of a plump but tender spaghetti with a good bite, the difference being the colder the water you use, the longer it takes. That being said even cold water only takes around 40 minutes to be ready.
I don’t eat a tonne of carbs anyway and often get my pasta ‘fix’ with cauliflower rice, courgette and konjac noodles so seaweed spaghetti is another way to add variety.
As you can see, I had rather a lot of fun experimenting! And no I’m not the best food photographer in the world, but take my word for it my meals always taste good!
What are the best ways to use seaweed pasta?
I logically thought fish would work well, which is why there’s a tuna ‘pasta’ salad, a prawn, carrot and seaweed spaghetti salad, and the best one (a total fluke), courgette and seaweed spaghetti tossed with a tin of cod roe. Goodness knows what possessed me to buy cod roe on impulse, but what can I say? I was really good!
Vegan Bacon Fix
One of the most common foods missed when people turn vegan or vegetarian is bacon (so I’m told). While Sea Bacon doesn’t taste exactly the same, it sure does do a pretty good impression and is waaay more natural and completely unprocessed compared to those vegan bacon imitation things I keep seeing. Goodness knows what they’re made of but it’s safe to say either real bacon or Sea Bacon are a lot closer to the ‘real food’ we’re all better off eating.
I’m not a vegan and can’t ever see myself being one but I do love variety and seaweed bacon was certainly new to me.
My cook’s head (Dad was a chef) told me that bacon goes awesomely with mushrooms, cheese and cauliflower, so those and a pack of aforementioned konjac pasta were tossed together with some Sea Bacon in the hope I was right about the combo.
Totally delicious (even if the plate does look like a mess) and really high fibre and filling while being pretty low calorie for a big plate of food. More tasty food for less calories – a dieters dream!
I’ve been putting chopped Sea Bacon on random meals since then to experiment – raw on salads, stirred into courgette noodles, or right out of the pack when I need a salty fix (I have low blood pressure and sweat a lot out through exercise; salt helps replace lost minerals and with hydration).
Tip: cut the Sea Bacon with kitchen scissors, or use a super sharp knife or rip it with your hands; a blunt knife won’t work.
Try it here:
There are more recipes and ideas over at https://seamorefood.com/ where you can find out where to buy them and see all the tasty things you can be making with this superfood of the sea!